Sunday

In the race for the Republican nomination for R.I. governor, Ken Block edged Allan Fung in a "straw poll" fundraiser where votes were sold to benefit the North Kingstown GOP.

No one is going to claim it was a scientific poll, certainly not when the votes — and the dinner — were for sale.

But when all was said and done, software entrepreneur Ken Block had beaten Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, his opponent in the race for the GOP nod to run for governor, in a “straw poll” of Republicans gathered Saturday night at the Quidnessett Country Club for the North Kingstown GOP’s annual “Lincoln Dinner.”

For the town committee, the “straw poll” was a fundraising gimmick that was initially billed this way: “Each dinner ticket holder will have one ticket to throw into their respective fish bowls. … As long tradition in R.I. dictates, there will be a limited number of “additional tickets available” for a $1 donation each to support “funding R.I. GOP candidates.”

In the final tally, Block beat Fung, 910-615.

Without making any more of the poll than it was, Block’s campaign manager Jeff Britt said the poll reflected the warm reception that Block — a relative newcomer to state GOP politics — received “in a roomful of diehard Republicans.”

But the math left some shaking their heads, including Fung’s campaign manager, Patrick Sweeney, since only 162 attended.

Asked what he made of the poll, Sweeney said: “Any candidate who would point to the results of a straw poll where people can donate money to cast multiple ballots as an indication of grassroots support does not really know or have grassroots support.”

He added: “There’s a couple things that don’t add up, including why Mr. Block voted for Barack Obama not once, but twice. There were about 160 attendees and over 1,500 votes. The straw poll was merely a fundraising tool for the NK GOP. We are extremely happy with having endorsements from 23 chairmen and several cities and towns.”

The math is unfathomable, even after this explanation from North Kingstown GOP Chairman Jim McGuire: 162 people attended. Each person was provided with five votes along with their $75 dinner, but for an additional $20 they could buy up to four additional tickets worth five votes each. Somehow that produced the 1,525 votes that Block and Fung split.

“It was well monitored, and there were rules and it all worked out,” McGuire said.

As to why the town GOP didn’t have a one-person, one-vote rule, McGuire said that would have been too much like a “real vote. Oh, jeez. I don’t think they would have even come to play.”

“Bottom line though is that a lot of good folks enjoyed a great evening. … It stirred the political juices. Also, it gave candidates from around the state a good gathering to meet and greet potential supporters,” said McGuire, who acknowledges making a recent $250 contribution to Block.

For Block, who founded the Moderate Party as an alternative to the state’s two major parties — and then ran as the Moderate Party’s candidate for governor in 2010, the all-in-fun “poll” was also a way — albeit an unscientific way — to display his credibility within established Republican circles in Rhode Island.

Fung has a longer history with the state GOP. He made his first run for elected office in 2002, winning a seat on the Cranston City Council. He served two terms, and when then-Mayor Stephen P. Laffey decided not to seek a third term, Fung ran for the mayor’s office. He lost to Democrat Michael T. Napolitano by 79 votes, but two years later, in 2008, with Napolitano choosing not to run, Fung won, collecting 63 percent of the vote on a night that saw Republicans, both locally and nationally, being trounced by Democrats.

The win made him Rhode Island’s first Asian-American mayor, and he won reelection in 2010 and again in 2012.

Tomasso moves up

With a new House speaker comes new people in positions of power, and among those to emerge with the ascension of Nicholas Mattiello is Rep. Lisa Tomasso.

A Coventry Democrat who works part time as a personal trainer, Tomasso is now the senior deputy majority leader, which means she will be helping to lead discussions among members of Mattiello’s leadership team about the fate of legislation pending before House committees or scheduled for votes on the House floor.

Tomasso has also been appointed to what’s probably the busiest committee in the General Assembly — House Finance.

She said she was initially skeptical about taking on that role, but as she thought about it, she began to see how it could help her to “have a better understanding” of the bills and issues she’ll be discussing with the leadership team.

“I’m hoping that that will actually be a learning tool,” she said.

Tomasso, 43, is married to a retired Coventry police detective who’s now a campus police officer at Community College of Rhode Island. She is also the mother of three children. Her oldest son is in college but her younger sons are in the ninth and sixth grades, so she knows she’s going to be busy over the next few months, as the 2014 legislative session shifts to high gear.

Asked how she came to be one of the people Mattiello would turn to, she said she sat next to him during her first term in the House.

“He was my mentor,” she said.

Lightening the mood

Rep. Stephen R. Ucci injected a dose of levity into the tense House atmosphere that followed former House Speaker Gordon D. Fox’s abrupt resignation and the short, but hard-fought five-day battle to replace him.

Ucci, D-Johnston, lost his top-ranked leadership title in the fight: House majority whip.

On Thursday, he rose from his House seat to give notice that he would be introducing a bill, on the next legislative day, to create a “Whip Emeritus License Plate.”

His colleagues erupted in laughter. And Ucci later said: “I did it in jest in order to lighten the mood.

“There’s tension now, because people had such a busy weekend, going side to side. But you know, as of last Thursday, we were 75 friends getting along, with things. And what we need to do is just get back to that point so we can govern.”

As for his “emeritus plate,” Ucci said: “I’ve reconsidered and won’t actually be submitting a bill.”

Raimondo ‘retreat’

General Treasurer Gina Raimondo was headed to the woods on Friday, along with the other members of the state Retirement Board.

The agenda for the day-long “retreat” at the University of Rhode Island’s Whispering Pines Conference Center in West Greenwich: “Annual Retirement Board Fiduciary Training and Continuing Education Session.”

Raimondo spokeswoman Joy Fox said the “continuing education” requirement was part of the state’s landmark 2011 pension law.

And yes, there was a cost: $1,191 for food for 23 people and $400 for room rental.

Tax Day rally returning

After a two-year hiatus, the Rhode Island Tea Party hopes to revive its “Tax Day” rally at the State House.

Timed with the April 15 deadline for filing federal and state income tax returns, the organization says it will be holding the rally as it also marks its five-year anniversary.

The rally takes place from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. on the State House lawn.

Formed in 2009 as anti-big-government sentiment swept the country, the Rhode Island Tea Party shifted its focus from the rallies and national political issues in recent years as it focused more attention on state politics and legislative activity in the State House.

On a related note: Susan Wynne says she has stepped down as chair of the R.I. Tea Party. Michael Puyana, who has been a regular presence at State House hearings representing the group, has taken the helm.

The Rhode Island Tea Party was originally founded by Colleen Conley.

Here are a few snippets from the group’s email announcement:

“Have you had enough of the utterly ridiculous and embarrassing nonsense from your government to last you a lifetime?

“If you’re as fed up as we think you are, then join us….”

Speaker history

State Librarian Thomas Evans shared this bit of Rhode Island political trivia last week: new House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, the Cranston Democrat who was elected Tuesday to succeed Gordon D. Fox, becomes the 64th individual to hold that office under the state Constitution that went into effect in May 1843.

Going back further than that is trickier. Evans says the “Political Graveyard” website suggests Mattiello could be the 90th individual to hold that office since 1797. But the website does not claim that its list is complete.

Congressional Breakfast

On Monday, the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce is holding its “Congressional Breakfast” at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick at 8:30 a.m. with U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen James Langevin and David Cicilline.

The event will focus on important issues for the business community, including the economy, health care, taxes and immigration reform.

But the Maxwell School at Syracuse has already posted an online announcement of Chafee’s 6 p.m. speech, on April 24 as part of The Tanner Lecture Series on Ethics, Citizenship and Public Responsibility.”

The topic? Stay tuned.

Campaign news

In the comings and goings department, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has brought on a new communications director for his campaign for governor.

Dawn Bergantino started in mid-March. She previously was vice president at Porter Novelli, a public relations firm in Washington, D.C.

Bergantino was also deputy press secretary to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed from 1998-2002, and U.S. Rep. Anna Georges Eshoo, D-Calif., from 2002-2003.

The Rhode Island Republican Party’s communications director, Michael Napolitano, has stepped down from his volunteer post to focus on his role in Ken Block’s campaign for governor.

Napolitano, who became director of operations for Block’s campaign in January, said in a statement that “other individuals” outside Block’s campaign had raised concerns about him holding both positions.

Block is vying for the GOP nomination against Cranston Mayor Allan Fung.

House expansion?

A South Kingstown lawmaker has proposed expanding the size of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and requiring that each district elect one man and one women to represent it.

State Rep. Spencer Dickinson, a Democrat often at odds with former House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, wants to boost the chamber’s membership from 75 representatives to 100.

He proposes creating 50 new House districts for the state’s 39 cities and towns. From those, voters would choose two representatives: one male and one female.

Dickinson said he proposed the idea as a way to address the gender gap in the chamber, which has 21 women of out 75 lawmakers.

He says the idea of a man and a woman from each district comes from the way the state Democratic Party chooses district representatives for its state committee.

If approved by the General Assembly, Dickinson’s proposal, which he introduced in February, would then have to be presented to voters in the form of a ballot referendum in the November election.

On Twitter: @kathyprojo and @RandyEdgar1

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